A couple of things are in progress for cleaner burning fossil products. First is the process known as coal gasification. This is a cleaner burning product because the air that supports combustion is better mixed with the fuel causing less unburned fuel and carbon monoxide resulting in cleaner exhaust. Another is Liquid Natural Gas. There are about three receiving ports being prepared for production and transmission of this product beginning in 2008 or 2009. The product is being imported from mid-eastern and other sources. One will be located in Baja, California area. Two will be located in the Gulf region. One in Louisiana and one in Texas. Keep your eyes peeled for progress in these industries.
Natural gas is being used to provide base load in California because of its clean burning properties. The price increases are due to conservation efforts and competative pricing strategies along side oil prices.
California's problems began when the California power regulators ruled that California utilities had to sell their power generating plants to independent power producers to develope a level playing field for power suppliers. When independents had the only power producing plants in the state, they sold the power to companies outside the state and California had to buy it back at inflated prices and sold it to the consumers. Thus, the 2000-2001 power crises in California. The trend spreaded to states without adequate power supplies. Only nuke plants were left to the original owners because they held the operating licenses from NRC. Fossil plants don't require licensing of the operator. The required permits for operating fossil plants are granted by the regional AQMD and are almost transferable between owners.
I don't advocate massive nuke plant building until the waste disposal issues are resolved. Fussion reseach could resolve that problem, but not enough is being done on the research. When I trained at the Commonwealth Edison Zion plant many years ago, it was obvious to me that construction of nukes needed to be slowed, but not stopped. The Marble Hill plant in Southern Indiana was under construction when the Three Mile Island plant crashed and burned around 1975. That put the stops on nearly all nukes that were not completed. The Marble Hill plant was replicating the Byron and Braidwood plants but there was no experience in building these plants by the Architect/Engineering firm nor the contractor or owner. The Owner actually considered building it without primary system isolation valves, to save money, just to show they were novelists. We've come a long way in the field, but more is still needed to assure safety of these plants.
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A couple of things are in progress for cleaner burning fossil products. First is the process known as coal gasification. This is a cleaner burning product because the air that supports combustion is better mixed with the fuel causing less unburned fuel and carbon monoxide resulting in cleaner exhaust. Another is Liquid Natural Gas. There are about three receiving ports being prepared for production and transmission of this product beginning in 2008 or 2009. The product is being imported from mid-eastern and other sources. One will be located in Baja, California area. Two will be located in the Gulf region. One in Louisiana and one in Texas. Keep your eyes peeled for progress in these industries. Natural gas is being used to provide base load in California because of its clean burning properties. The price increases are due to conservation efforts and competative pricing strategies along side oil prices. California's problems began when the California power regulators ruled that California utilities had to sell their power generating plants to independent power producers to develope a level playing field for power suppliers. When independents had the only power producing plants in the state, they sold the power to companies outside the state and California had to buy it back at inflated prices and sold it to the consumers. Thus, the 2000-2001 power crises in California. The trend spreaded to states without adequate power supplies. Only nuke plants were left to the original owners because they held the operating licenses from NRC. Fossil plants don't require licensing of the operator. The required permits for operating fossil plants are granted by the regional AQMD and are almost transferable between owners. I don't advocate massive nuke plant building until the waste disposal issues are resolved. Fussion reseach could resolve that problem, but not enough is being done on the research. When I trained at the Commonwealth Edison Zion plant many years ago, it was obvious to me that construction of nukes needed to be slowed, but not stopped. The Marble Hill plant in Southern Indiana was under construction when the Three Mile Island plant crashed and burned around 1975. That put the stops on nearly all nukes that were not completed. The Marble Hill plant was replicating the Byron and Braidwood plants but there was no experience in building these plants by the Architect/Engineering firm nor the contractor or owner. The Owner actually considered building it without primary system isolation valves, to save money, just to show they were novelists. We've come a long way in the field, but more is still needed to assure safety of these plants.